I was considering writing about Tom Brady's retirement, but the site's real main writers have already written about that, so I'll talk about the other major news from this week and how it might affect the Lions.

First Sean Payton was hired by the Broncos to be their new coach. I don't think the Bronco's situation affects the Lions at all, but it's possible with their new late first round pick that the Saints do the same dumb thing they did last year but where the Lions benefit as opposed to the Eagles. Are they going to say, "Hey, we went 7-10 in a division where 8-9 won the division, we're one player away from making the playoffs, but we need to trade up to 18 to get our guy." Maybe! I would love to take advantage of the Saints' declining roster for future assets.

Second, the other two hires seem more relevant to the Lions to me. Does the hiring of Frank Reich mean they're definitely going to draft a rookie QB? Working with Matt Ryan, Carson Wentz, Philip Rivers, and Jacoby Brissett his last four years as the Colts' HC, does he want a relatively unshaped lump of clay? Or is this a destination for a Jimmy G or Derek Carr? I believe the Lions' best options to trade back if another team wants to move in front of the Raiders are probably either the Panthers or the Commanders. I think this makes the chance more likely. Even if the Panthers don't trade with the Lions, it's still possible that they're moving up for a QB by trading with the Seahawks, Cardinals, or Bears. And that increases the odds that either Will Anderson or Jalen Carter makes it to the Lions.

With the Texans, I have the opposite question. Every mock draft since the beginning of the season has put a QB in at the Texans' first pick. Only the name has changed. But with DeMeco Ryans' defensive focus and his long contract, might they focus on building up the infrastructure before taking a QB? Could they trade back and try to pick up even more capital? I think one of the things that we've...not learned...but appropriately re-emphasized over the last five years is that infrastructure is extremely important to the success and development of a young QB. With Brandin Cooks' intense desire to leave the Texans, they have an OK to bad OL (with a great LT), a pretty good RB, and...?? Would it be worth it for them to trade out of that valuable spot, grab a couple more picks and maybe get a couple pass catchers in there? Or maybe they just take Will Anderson or Jalen Carter because that's what DeMeco truly wants to start his team. In the same way the new Lions started this era with Penei, perhaps an elite DL player is the central piece of DeMeco's plan.

Very curious as to what happens next. Now that I've thought of it, I definitely hope that the Saints do that dumb thing again.